The Design Block

If you're looking for the latest in advertising and marketing, design related technology and lifestyle tips, and art or design highlights then you're in the right place. Find all this and more with the Design Block blog.

We’ve all been there. Our hands deep in a bag of Doritos and the sudden need to grab something other than another fistful of chips. That’s the moment you decide to wipe those cheesy hands on your shirt, your pants, the couch, something else. Doritos…

Presented with a video animation at CES 2019, the walking car dubbed Elevate, involves some inspired engineering that would be great to have along when doing some epic back-county skiing or biking trips.

Sometimes you just have to share your love fried chicken while you eat. However, using your smartphone with chicken-scented fingers might leave your shiny display covered in grease and grime. Not to worry though, KFC has a better way to live-tweet what you’re eating.

Adobe’s premiere image editor, Photoshop remains the industry standard because of how the software can assist photographers and graphic designers in doing their jobs. It is, however, about the get a lot easier for Apple users. This year Adobe is finally bringing Photoshop CC—a fully…

Pantone has been a colour leader for a while now, but as designers, there are great many advantages of using Pantone as a colour guide. Designers routinely undergo multiple handovers each time they work on a project, and earlier this year, the company promised to simplify work processes for…

One of the most important things to remember in design is to back-up your work. That being said, sometimes even the those files can be vulnerable to bugs. That’s the case with a freelance videographer who recently filed a class action lawsuit against Adobe.

It’s true that people don’t look like their Instagram shots, or they’re not as happy as their Facebook profiles try to convince us. It’s also true that designers don’t use all those trendy font combinations you might think.

Showing that eco-friendly building concepts are applicable to even our canine friends, California-based architecture and interior design firm Studio Schicketanz has designed a dog house unlike any other.

3.5 million tons of plastic and other solid waste are generated each day across the world, according to researchers. Yet, there are a growing number of companies and people who are joining the zero waste movement.

Playing with Lego just got better for the environment. After announcing its eco-friendly plant-shaped bricks made of sugarcane, LEGO has teamed up with Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas to create a wind turbine model made from sustainable bricks.

IKEA just became the latest company to announce it’s experimenting with self-driving cars. Well, calling them cars isn’t quite right. While the Swedish furniture giant isn’t looking to become the next Tesla, they’re taking an entirely different approach to the concept.

Finding a comfortable gaming chair can be tough—especially if you’re going to be playing Fortnite for hours on end. If you’ve ever dreamt of having a chair that was perfect for your ass, IKEA is making that dream come true.

Dogecoin is a cryptocurrency that was created in 2013 as a joke by Jackson Palmer, an Adobe Product Manager. However, in the past three months, as other cryptocurrencies have started to crumble, it’s roughly doubled in value.

In today’s mobile-first environment, every company seems to have a mobile app and everyone a genius mobile app idea. This is why it is not surprising that the app store is cluttered with underperforming applications by the millions. What might come as a surprise, however,…

Billionaire Elon Musk has created some interesting merchandise to promote his companies over the years: everything from Boring Company hats to a flamethrower. Last week, Tesla debuted a new product: a limited edition US$1,500 surfboard.

This year is set to be an important one for advertisers currently using Google’s digital marketing services. On June 27 Google turned the digital marketing world on its head when it announced a complete rebrand of its advertising products.

It’s a common problem with having your photo taken: your smile is wide but your eyes shut just as the flash goes off. Not to worry, though. Facebook’s new AI can now open your eyes in photos where they’re closed.

The web is a very blue place, and not metaphorically, either. The Internet’s most heavily trafficked websites are literally coloured with nearly twice as many shades of blues as that of yellows and reds, and three times as much greens. But is the colour blue enriching…

For decades, scientists have been looking to create x-ray vision to see through walls. And, in the past few years, they’ve succeeded; they created technology that uses WiFi to sense people through walls.

It appears that technology is finally catching up with the construction industry’s ambitions, as a handful of 3D-printed projects inch closer to fruition. The Dutch city of Eindhoven will be the first in the world to have habitable 3D-printed concrete houses.

Taking your eyes off the road while driving, even for a second, could lead to disaster. When it comes to distracted driving, texting is becoming the number one concert. In fact, Canadians say that texting while driving is one of the biggest threats to their personal…

Black, white or stainless steel kitchen appliances no longer exciting you? Now there’s a new option to turn your kitchen into a fashion statement—and drop a little cash while you’re at it. Dolce & Gabbana has collaborated with Italian appliance company Smeg to create a…

As a technique that helps boost conversion rate, the use of landing pages is at an all-time high. A landing page can help you achieve your marketing goals be it increasing email subscribers list or generating better leads for specific products.

Over 5000 years of art history has just been made available online for free by New York’s biggest museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art. As well as releasing more than 400,000 artworks for personal and commercial use, the Met has made over 500 free art books available for your…

Sometimes, architectural influences seep past the walls and into other mediums. Adidas has borrowed from the grid designs of urban planning, architecture and nature, once featured in its silhouettes from the 80s. Their new footwear, the Deerupt, embraces a fresh take on the concept for 2018.

What’s so difficult about creating a good logo? They’re usually simple, sometimes complex, but mostly something you should be able to do lickety-split. So, no problem, right? When you only see the result of a designer’s efforts, logo design can look like it was a…

Later this year, LEGO will be launching new botanical elements such as leaves, bushes and trees made from a plant-based plastic. In the company’s bid to reduce their plastic waste, the new pieces will be made with a plant-based material sourced from sugarcane.

Daniel Swanick has been working as both a freelance and in-house Art Director / Senior Graphic Designer in the Greater Toronto Area for over ten years. He looks at every project from both a creative and strategic point-of-view to deliver engaging, conceptually driven ideas.